Lightroom Backup Technique

Walrus80  wrote Hi, I know there may be other methods, but if I copied the folder that contains all my original raw images to an external drive, and then copied my current catalogue file as well to the drive, would this in theory count as a complete backup of all photos and the catalogue? Or do I have to do it via the Lightroom backup options? Many thanks

Almost everything. You may want to use the "Store presets with Catalog" option then that will be backed up too. Important stuff. There are other files scattered around the boot disk; DNG camera profiles come to mind. It's too bad LR doesn't' allow us to copy everything necessary to the catalog folder so when you back that up, you backup all the other items. I simply use a symbolic link to that folder and then these items get backed up too. Depending on the OS, such profiles will reside in differing areas.

I think the catalog backup schema within LR is a total waste of time! IF you do as you've suggested, place the catalog, all images and the presets on a dedicated drive, then any decent back up utility will clone (copy and backup) ALL that important data, not just the catalog. And any decent backup application will do this on a schedule, maybe every day (in the dead of night). That's how I handle this. So the auto backup in LR is a kludge at best.

Walrus80  wrote Hi, Or do I have to do it via the Lightroom backup options? Many thanks

The Auto Backup system in LR is ONLY for the Catalog file and not, NONE, of your actual image files.

Also the Auto LR catalog backup is flawed as the Default backup location, IE where the backups are stored, is in a Subfolder of the folder the main, real, catalog file is located.

If the drive that you use for the main LR catalog file fails you also lose all the backups.

LR should Prompt you to choose a different physical drive to store the backup on. But when the backup window comes up you can select to store it on some other drive and then that becomes the Default location for all future catalog backups.

Have you considered using a cloud backup service? Then it's all done in the background once you set it up.

would this in theory count as a complete backup of all photos and the catalogue?

Simple answer: YES (but ...)

There are better ways to do this than making manual backups. And in fact, even with the above answer of YES, I would not recommend doing it that way.

Catalogs should be backed up regularly using the built-in Lightroom Catalog backup feature. In the backup dialog box, there is a box that says "Test Integrity ...", and this box should be checked.

Photos should also be backed up regularly and automatically. It should not be a manual operation, because no human is perfect, and sooner or later you will forget, or be too busy, or too lazy, and suddenly you have no recent backups. You need to use third party backup software (some of which are free) which will regularly and automatically backup the photos.